Filming: Day 1

LOCATION

ELLIE'S HOUSE AND HEXTABLE

For our first day of filming, we decided to start from the beginning of our timeline, as this just involved working with Ellie in a place that we had easy access too.

PHOTOGRAPHS

We started by dressing her in the appropariate clothing and taking photographs of her so that we could show pictures of what our characters would look like. We tried a variety of different shots in positions that would establish the type of persoanlity she has and what type of mood the video will be.

BEDROOM SCENE
This scene involved our actress Ellie waking up after a "rough night" - confused and distressed. We did her makeup so it appeared smudged to highlight that she had been crying or angry. We also placed empty alcahol bottles and one half full bottle carefully around the room to give an idea of what may be going on in the video.
As the room was quite small and dark we had to use the lights provided be our school and place them carefully around the room to ensure that there was enough lighting to make everything much clearer.

HALLWAY SCENE
We then moved onto the hallway scene, which just involved the walk from Ellies bedroom to the bathroom, ready for the next important scene inside the bathroom. Due to the time of day we had quite a bit of trouble with the lighting, however, we used a white sheet to cover the window causing these issues- which was held up by Sarah.

BATHROOM SHOTS
The next shots involved the bathroom, which was very small, so found it difficult to get some footage that was to a high standard. Nevertheless, after many attempts of us practicing where to stand ect,  we mannaged to come up with some appropriate footage of her looking and singing into the mirror.

LEAVING THE HOUSE
The next part of our timeline involved Ellie leaving her house and eventually going to Harrys. We managed to get in a variety of different shots in these scenes such as a birds eye view one- which evidentally will make the music video much more interesting to look at. We also struggled again with lighting in these scenes, but we believed in the end we managed to control it.

OUTSIDE SCENES
The last bit of filming we did for the day involved being outside. We took some photographs outside of Ellie also, as we believed they would be a good platform for our ancillary tasks. For these shots we did a variety of different things, such as going on the opposite side of the road to Ellie and film her for a couple of minutes. We did this so that in the music video we could speed it up and make it seem that time was passing by. We then went onto film scenes along a wall outside a shop to show what type of situation our main character is in.

Once we had finished all our filming for the day, we looked through what we had and did decide that we got some really good shots for our music video. However, we did notice there was a few mistakes they we needed to sort out- such as our reflections or someones hand or foot being in the shot, therefore, later on we will be coming back to re-shoot these scenes. Overall, we had a successful day of filming.

The next day at school we decided to put together a rough cut of all the filming we did, to produce an idea of what the final video will look like. There are issues with some of the shots in this that we will be refilming at a later time.

Characters Clothing

After doing research into clothing in music videos and for specific artists, me and my group planned the outfits that our main character and artist of the song will be wearing.

Outfit 1: Main Music Video Outfit

We chose this outfit, because it resembles what we found from the Rihanna and Kesha videos, with the high denim shorts, casual top and boots. We felt this outfit best potrayed who our character is and the dark negative feelings she has when in the music video.

Outfit 2: Memory Scenes Outfit

For this outfit, we wanted something more cheerful, yet it still contained that rocky edge our character has. So we went for bright skinny jeans, a casual top, and different colour doc martins. We added red lipstick as it makes her look more cheerful and quite flirty.

Outfit 3: Ancillary Tasks Outfit

For the ancillary tasks, we wanted a more glamorous outfit, as this is what is usually seen on the cover of digipaks and magazine adverts. This outfit links with the others, as it has the red lipstick and the rocky look still, however, we toned it down and added some glamour about it.



Characters

The characters we will be using in our video have been chosen for three reasons:

1. We needed characters who were reliable and had a reasonable amount of free time, so we could film when we needed to without problems.
2. They fit in with the type of genre we are going for- which is quite rocky.
3. Lastly, they were comfortable in front of the camera, as they both have had past experiences with media courework. Ellie had worked for Sarah in her A2 coursework and Harry was the main character in his sisters A2 music video.

Protagonist Female

Ellie Blancke

Ellie has been involved with Sarahs media fiming before, so she was one of our first ideas when we were re-planning our music video. We also decided that she had the right look for our video, which is indie/rock. Her style and and attitude at times is the type of character we wanted, because the song portrays the idea of someone being troubled, indifferent and having a rough time. We picked someone who we could get ideas from, and we decided that KESHA and her videos/ personality would most fit the idea were are aiming for. 

Protagonist Male

Harry Painter

This character is our protagonist male- he is no where near involved in the video as much as Ellie, but he stars in short flashback scenes and also at the end of the video. We needed someone who was around the same height and looked friendly in contrast to Ellie's angry and rebellious characters, and we felt Harry fit this perfectly. We also needed someone who felt comfortable in front of the camera and with Ellie- which he did as he was the main character in his sister's A2 media video last year and he is also good friends with Ellie. For his clothing we wanted him to look very casual and neutral in all the scenes- to highlight his nice personality and try to insinuate that he is not  the one "in the wrong" throughougout our video.

Antagonist Female

Sarah Brushett

The last character for our music video, only had a very short part to play, so we decided that our group member Sarah would do it, as she would be easy to get for such a short period of filming. The only role she has to play, is the "Friend" of Harry, who Ellie thinks is more than a friend. She is seen calling Harry in the film and also sitting having a drink with him in the kitchen, when Ellie walks in and finds them. Even though this is only a short role, its quite important, because Ellies drinking and bad behaviour comes from the paranoia of Harry and Sarah's relationship.

Camera Angle Drawings

To help us decide on what type of angles and shots we were to do for our music video, Sarah Biswell took it upon herself to do two rough drawings of the different types of angles that we could do in our two main locations: the bedroom and the hallway. We wanted a high amount and a variety of different angles for these two scenes, as the music for these scenes are very fast paced and snappy.

In these images, the circle represents where the camera will be positioned:

The Hallway

The Bedroom

Storyboard

After creating our timeline, we decided to create a storyboard so that we could give a more clear example and image of what are expecting our music video to look like.

I split our timeline into four sections to give to myself and the other members of my group. We then all went off over the weekend and sketched our ideas into different boxes for different and important moments. We then came back and put them altogether on a large piece of paper to create the final piece.

Here is the final piece:

Locations

When deciding our locations, we had to pick places that were:

• Easy to access
• Available most of the time.
• Quite spacious, so that we could fit everyone and everything in it.
• And somewhere that fit in with the storyline.

After creating our timeline, some of the locations we are considering using are:

• Sutton-at-hone
• Eynsford
• Hextable
• Ellie's House
• And Sarah Brushetts House

Location 1: Drinking Scenes & Lighter Scenes- Sutton- at-hone or Eynsford

These scenes need to be quite isolated, as this is the place where our character goes to think about her feelings and release these feelinds too. Sarah Brushett suggested Eynsford Castle, as it is right where she lives and is known to not have many visitors, which is perfect as we needed somewhere where it looked like not many people went. As this is a public place, we have a back up plan of a forest behind Sarah Biswells house in Sutton-at-hone.

Location 2: Hextable

For the scenes where Ellie is walking down the street and sitting on the wall, we needed somewhere which would link to her house, because this is where she is coming from. Right near her house is "Rollo Road" and a shop, so we decided this would be a good place, as this could be the place where she gets all her alcahol from ect. It is also on a main road, which is good, because we need a lot cars for when we are filming her from across the road for 5 minutes.

Location 3: Ellies House, Hextable

We chose to film at Ellies House for the beginning scenes, because it is somewhere which is easy to access and also Ellie would feel most comfortable acting here. Also the surroundings in her bedroom fit in with her personality already so, we decided it would be a good idea to do it here.

Location 4: Sarah Brushetts House, Eynsford

For the flashback scences, and the scenes at end we needed a different house, to represent her "boyfriends house." We once again chose a house which was familair to use and easy to access, so we decided on Sarahs house. Her kitchen is very big, open and bright so it would be easy to get filming equipment in there and hopefully not have many problems with the lighting.

Timeline

As we had to completey change everything about our video, we also had to create a new timeline. We already had an idea of what we wanted to go for, as we had these ideas previously.

Our music video is now based on our friend Ellie and our other friend Harry and their relationship. We decided to go for quite a dramatic video, as the song we chose creates this type of atmosphere. We are going to do very fast short clips throughout the video, because the beat of the music does this. We analysed the lyrics carefully to create a story that would go along with the song, and then wrote these ideas onto the timeline.

Here is what me and my group came up with:

Analysing of Lyrics

To give myself a clear idea of what we may film for our music video- I deicided to do a lyric analysis so I can understand the song better. The song basically gives the impression of someone who is in a relationship where they feel controlled, and feel they are constantly being told off and judged for the type of life they live. It suggests that the couple break up and that the person feels much happier without the other- as said in the song "Well, now I can fend for myself!"

Here is my brief planning of what I believed the song was suggesting:

Research into Theorists

Theories have been made concerning film and media, so that people have more of a knowledge of what they are seeing and what they can create by doing different things. I looked at two popular theorists- Todorov and Mulvey so that they could aid me when creating the music video and Ancillary Tasks.

Here is the presentation I made of my research:

Research into Lighting

Research into Angles

Different angles and positions of camera are often seen when creating a music video, film or television programme. They provide different ways to view something, but in a more interesting way. Angles can also be used to potray a mood or give the watcher a certain feeling, for example the camera being low on the ground and looking up at a person, makes the person seem dominant and authorative. I did some research and found the following camera angles and shots that could be used:

All the different angles and shots are important in creating a good music video, as they help get across the type of emotion and feeling that the song is about. When creating my music video with my group I will definitley use some of these, as our song has a lot of emotion and feeling in it, so we will need these to portray it.

Research into Characters

Click partially hidden icon in top right hand corner to view in full screen!

Research into Transitions

I decided to look into different types of transitions that are included in music videos, so that when the time comes to editing our music video, we make it the best it can be. Here are some of the following that I found:

Research into Transitions on Prezi

Research into Clothing

To get an idea of what type of clothing is used or seen in music videos- I did some research. Once again I looked at Kesha and Rihanna, because this is the style me and my group decided we would focus on.

Here are a collection of images, Sarah Biswell put together:

After carefully looking at these images I noticed that the following pieces of clothing were popular for these artists:

1) Scruffy denim shorts that are high-waisted.

2) A casual and indie looking top, that makes the outfit more interesting to look at. 

3) A coat- which is either leather and furry- which adds character to the outfit. As it is winter when we are filming, we will be using some form of coat which will add to our characters rocky image.

4) Then there are the shoes which are either boots or trainers. Rihanan is more R&B so she appears in trainers, whereas Kesha is more rocky and is often seen wearing boots with the top undone, to add to her "crazy" and scruffy image. As our character is more rocky, we will definitely consider using boots.

 

Music Video Research

To start planning our music video, I looked at a variety of music videos to help me get some inspiration on what we might do for ours. I picked songs that were quite fast paced and had lots of clear beats and lyrics in them, so that we would not be short of ideas when filming ours. I focused on videos that involve a solo female, and also bands as this was our initial idea.

Rihanna- We Found Love

I immediately thought of this music video when researching for our one and noticed the following things about it:

• It has a clear storyline, which involves a couple being torn apart by their use of drugs- they fell in love when they were both doing it, but after a while the girl wants more.
• The drug and smoking scenes are potrayed by the use of quick, sharp and snappy shots and angles to give the sense that they are going crazy- which I feel is very affective. What this song also does is that it does these "Crazy" scenes are when the music starts to pick up its pace, so when the clips changes- it changes to the beat of the music, which kind of makes you feel as though you are following the journey.

• Additionally, this video not only has a storyline, but it also shows the singer which is Rihanna, singing the lyrics of the song every now and again. This has a healthy balance of both, which I think is good, because it shows the person telling the story of the song and actually seeing the story.

The parts where Rihanna is singing, she seems to be in the same location, which looks like the house they are in- so it links to the rest of the video.

Then there are the parts which actually show the story happening.

• It shows two sides of the story- the good memories they have together and then all the bad things, which is something I might like to try for our music video. This allows you to understand the meaning of the song better. The good scenes of them are at the beginning and then eventually you start to see all the bad situations- which is the way a normal story is shown.

GOOD TIMES

BAD TIMES

Kesha-Tik  Tok

Another music video I decided to look at was "Tik Tok" by Kesha. I chose this video and artist, because me and my group decided this video had the same type of feeling that we wanted in ours. It is fast, paced quite crazy and shows a rebellious women. Here are the following things I noticed about this video:

• Just like the Rihanna video, the music cuts in beat to the music. This is seen from the outset, with the opening scenes being shots of the present time and memories. An additional thing I noticed about this video, was that the memory scenes were black and white- to give the indication that the moment it is showing is from another time. If we do a scene involving a memory, then I will definitely consider doing this. 

• The next thing I noticed about this video, was that it did have her singing the song, however, it was at different moments and places throughout the video- which was different to Rihannas. However, there are a few recurring scenes of her singing the bath time and up against a yellow wall, so it could be argued that there is a recurring place for the singing sections.
• From the second screenshot below, I really liked this idea of filming someone singing in the mirror, which may be hard, but I may suggest attempting it with my group.

• Next I noticed that they have added effects to this video to fit in wth some of the lyrics. For example, for the lyrics "Trying to get a little typsy"- they used the effect which blurs the camera to try and create the actual effect of being drunk- which gets the audience relating and possibly enjoying the video more.

• Another example of them doing this in this video, is when she sings "Or the police shut us down, down"- they edit the video so the shot is red/green to insinuate the lights of police car- which is much more interesting than just showing a police car. 

 CONCLUSION

To conclude, there are a few things that I have noticed about music videos which I will definitley consider doing when it comes to the construction of my groups. For example, they always cut to the beat to the music, and there is either a storyline or the singer singing in the video, or they have them both. I will take everything from this research on board, to try and create a good and realistic music video.

Target Audience

We decided that our target audience for our music video would be for the indie/rock genre and would focus on teenagers of both genders. To get a better idea of what the indie/rock genre is about, I researched into it and found the following things:

Even though its not the most popular of genres, it is becoming much more current, and can be identified by many popular bands. For example, the band "Paramore" who is the band that sang the song we were doing our music video too, are considered to be of the indie/rock genre. This genre is appreciated much more by the teenager generation, which is why we will be aiming to make our products, so that they appeal to our target audience.

Practice Filming

A constant theme throughout the song is the use of the numbers "1,2,3" and "4,5,6." As we realised these numbers appeared quite regularly, we felt that we should show them in an interesting way in our video. After long thought we decided that we would use objects that related to the video to create the numbers. For this "1,2,3" we used some stones from the "Girls Room", as it relates to the girls we will be using. We then tried a variety of different ways to film it so that we could decide how we are going to do it when it comes to the actual filming.

For the next set of "1,2,3" we decided to use the microphone wire, as this fits in well with the music band, as we have someone singing into the microphone. We carefully constructed it in the way we thought would look the nicest, which was in a nice italic writing. We then filmed different ways that we would film it for out real music video.

We then did the exact same thing, but the time we did it for the "4,5,6" parts of the song which come later on in the video. We once again experimented with different types of shots.

Here is a photo I have taken of Charlotte and Sarah creating the "4,5,6" made out of microphone wire. Here they are tieing bands around the wire to keep it in place.

Here is the last sequence of filming we did for the numbers. For these ones we did the "4,5,6" in the stones to continue on with our theme. Here are some of the shots that we came up with.

The last sets of shots we did were the "memory" scenes that we are going to be filming near the end of the music video. These shots will be of the girl arriving at her house walking round it and seeing flashbacks of "good times" with the boy (the lead singer of the band). She walks down the drive, in the house, to the kitchen, up the stairs and then walks into her room and sees the band waiting for her- which is where Adam will say the last lyrics of the song to her which are "Will you be my girl?" 

However, fortunately for us, as we filmed this we came across some problems which means that we can fix these when it comes to the real filming. Here are some of the issues we came up with:

• We originally filmed Sarah wihout a coat, and we realised half way through hanging the coat on the bannister was part of our timeline so we had to change this, and next time we need to ensure that we keep to the coat idea.
• Next, we have a scene following the girl up the stairs, but we found that it was very to hard to follow Sarah up the stairs smoothly, without the camera boncing up and down and the angle looking awkward. We tried different attempts at doing this, and the one we thought was best can be seen in the video above.
• Another issue we came up with was the lighing. In some of the shots it is quite dark so we need to figure out a way to ensure that every scene has a sufficient amount of light.

Pitch

Due to the continuous problems we have faced with trying to film and produce our original music video to "Are you gonna be my girl" by Jet, we have decided that it would be more realistic to change our idea altogether. We have tried to to stick to the same type of genre so that we could carry some of our past research onto this music video.

We wanted to continue on with a song that was quite fast and quite aggresive at times, so that we could have the camera moving quite fast and jagged just like with the song by Jet. However, we did look at additional songs that were quite meaninful and carefree- so that we could have lots of ideas for filming.

Here is a mind map with a few of the song ideas we were thinking of:

After carefully looking and listening to the different songs, we decided that the song that would be the best would be "IGNORANCE" by PARAMORE.

Abdobe Premiere Trial

For todays lesson we learnt how to use "Abdobe Premiere", as this is the programme we will be using when it comes to actually making our movies. We had to film a variety of different shots so that we could use this programme, edit the shots and then put together a minature movie.

When making the video I used techniques such as fading (as seen above) and also a variety of different effects such as a lens flare. (seen below)